


Still Breathing

by Rattlesnake_Smile



Category: True Blood
Genre: Ghosts, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, mediumship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 03:22:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2009058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rattlesnake_Smile/pseuds/Rattlesnake_Smile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the party at Sookie's place ended for James and Lafayette a little sooner than they would have liked, they head back to Lala's to crash.  While James is sleeping, Lafayette gets a visit from Jesús.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Breathing

**Author's Note:**

> So, True Blood, it's just gotten crazier and crazier with each passing season, so I'm glad we're finally bringing it back to the basics in this town. I'm also happy that Lafayette is getting a love interest again. Granted, I wasn't so sure at first, because I loved Jesús dearly, but Nathan Parsons plays the role so well with Nelsan that it just works. 
> 
> This work was inspired by the last episode, where James and Lafayette finally act on the building sexual tension between the two of them. When I was watching I was basically shouting at the screen "Oh! Get some Lala! You go gurl!" My friends find this hilarious. But, this also came about because we never really got closure on what happened to Jesús after that whole fiasco with Bartolo, so here we is.

"Is everything aiight in here?" Lafayette asked, hovering in the doorway as James kicked off his boots and sat down on the queen-sized bed. To his credit, when the vampire pulled his t-shirt over his head, rumpling that thick black hair that he just itched to run his hands through and exposed his broad, muscular chest, Lala didn't let his gaze roam with a quirked lip and a raised brow like he normally would have. James had been through a lot and Lafayette just wanted to let him know he was here.

"Yeah." James responded, his voice soft and just this side of broken, like he didn't want to let on the inner turmoil he was going through. The effeminate, yet still masculine short-order cook uncrossed his arms and moved forward, walking around the bed under the vampire's gaze toward the windows. Pulling back the curtains, he tested the light-tight blinds covering the glass. Not that one could tell, but the night was slowly growing paler with the gray light of dawn.

"You should be good when the sun comes up." Lafayette informed him. "Ain't no light gonna be gettin' up in here." He moved back around the bed, standing in front of James. "This place be locked down tighter than a virgin's ass on her weddin' night." Despite himself, James let out a huff of amusement through his nose, his lips quirking up in the smallest of smiles.

"Thanks again." James said. "For letting me crash here." He shrugged those impressive shoulders. "I don't really know anyone else around here."

"Think nuttin' of it, boyfriend." Lafayette said with his usual flamboyant air, ignoring the way the vampire's head snapped up slightly at the word. "It just a word." The darker-skinned male waved his manicured hand at the expression on James' face. "Is there anything I can get you before you is dead to da world?"

"No, I'm good." James whispered, looking up when Lafayette stepped forward to stand right before him. He craned his neck to look up, traveling up the strong, muscular chest of the backwoods fry cook and voodoo queen. Those purple-painted reached up to card through the vampire's dark hair, James arching unconsciously into the touch like a cat.

"Sleep tight, then." Lafayette responded softly. "And just holla if you needs anything."

"I will." James nodded, Lala's hand still in his hair.

"Good. And don't give Lil' Red another thought." James frowned at the human's words, the look of betrayal and hatred on Jessica's face flashing in his mind. "We had us a little chat and I think it's gonna be aiight." Lafayette paused. "At least in a few days." He fixed James with that penetrating stare of his. "We let her chill off first."

"You had no right to do that!" James exclaimed, his body tense as if he were about to stand up.

"I know I didn't." Lafayette didn't back down. "But I did anyway. I gave her a nice little talkin' to and if y'all decide, like the adults you are, to get back together, I'll step aside."

"You'd do that?" James' voice was soft again, his face confused.

"Think nuttin' of it, honey pie." Lafayette waved away James' concern. "You just get you some sleep and we'll talk about it tonight."

"I still feel bad about kicking you out of your own bed." James rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Lafayette arched an eyebrow flirtatiously.

"You offerin'?" James opened his mouth and closed it several times, fumbling over his words. Lafayette was sure that if he could blush, he would have by now.

"No, I just... and you... "

"Relax, boyfriend." Lafayette took pity on him. "I'm just teasin'. My stoned as has passed out more than once on that couch." He moved toward the bedroom door, flicking off the lights. "You sleep tight now."

"Thanks again." In the dim light from the hallway coming in through the open door, Lafayette saw James settle back onto the pillows, rolling over onto his stomach and wrapping his arms around the pillow Lafayette usually slept on. The medium smiled to himself, watching as James "subtly" rubbed his head against he pillow, taking in Lafayette's scent, before the door was closed completely. Moving through the hall, Lafayette made sure that no light what-so-ever would be able to slip through and into the bedroom where James would be dead for the day. Lafayette, deciding against sleep right that second, moved to the altar set up in his living room, pulling out all the materials to roll a blunt from beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary, because he was a classy-ass mutha fucka.

Slipping out into the faint light of the approaching dawn, Lafayette moved over toward the rickety little table on his porch and sat his black ass down, laying out his "tools" across the table and proceeded to make a joint. Once the blunt was rolled, Lala picked up some matches and lit the end, taking in several puffs before leaning back in his chair, still in the semi-darkness of that small window of time just before dawn, and blew out a cloud of pungent smoke. For a minute or so, Lafayette repeated this process, letting the cannabis seep into his body and relax his brain. Even with the help of the drugs, his thoughts kept drifting back to the vampire in his bed and the kiss they'd shared when the night was just starting. Not to mention, what had followed after... before that little Gingersnatch had interrupted. He found his gaze kept drifting back toward the windows that James lay just on the other side of.

"He's cute."

"Jesus!" Lafayette's head spun back around so fast he thought he might have dislocated something. Sitting on the other side of the table was Jesús, leaning forward on his cross arms, the candles on the table that Lafayette had left unlit, now flickering with small flames. At Lafayette's exclamation, Jesús smiled brightly.

"You sound like your mother when you say that." The dead brujo joked. The look of shock was wiped from Lala's face and was replaced with one of the world's best "bitch faces." Jesús leaned back in his chair, arms out in surrender, smiling the whole time. "I'm just kidding." Lafayette merely quirked an eyebrow in question before taking another drag from his blunt. Watching the medium, the spirit's smile grew wider.

"You look good." Jesús remarked.

"Did you expect me not to?" Lafayette asked, blowing out smoke.

"No, no." Jesús shook his head. "My baby's a fighter. I knew he'd come back to his full flaming glory."

"Fuck you, beotch." Lala shot back in a loving tone, earning a chuckle from Jesús.

"I was serious, by the way."

"About what." Lafayette couldn't keep the smile off his face, small as it was. It had been too long since he and Jesús had spoken to one another.

"The vampire." Jesús clarified. "James." That got the medium's attention. "He's cute." Just as Lafayette was opening his mouth to outright deny whatever the brujo was insinuating, Jesús interrupted him. "I'm not mad or jealous. I'm happy for you. After everything you've been through, you deserve a little slice of happiness."

"Has you been followin' me?" Lafayette asked with narrowed eyes. "Or hoverin', or stalkin', or whatever it is y'all dead folks do on yo' side?"

"I'm always with you." Jesús stated simply, his smile no longer quite as bright, but still just as honest. "Even when you can't or won't see me."

"Now, when you say 'always'...?" Jesús laughed outright at the suspicious tone in the medium's voice.

"I left you two alone when it became clear it was going to be more than just a kiss." Lafayette blushed under his heavy make-up and dark skin. "I went to visit your mother, actually."

"How is ol' Ruby J?"

"Still batshit, but happy to see me." The deceased male said. "She doesn't like talking to any of the other nurses or shrinks. But don't think I don't see what you're doing here." Lala did a hell of a job pretending to look coy. "You're deflecting."

"I would ne'va." Lafayette shot back.

"I don't mind." Jesús reiterated. "I love you and I always will..."

"I love you, too." The medium was quick to clarify.

"I know that, but I can't be here for you the way you need." Moving in that particular, disjointed way that spirits do, Jesús was suddenly in the seat right next to Lafayette, though to his credit, he didn't jump this time. "Don't be afraid to move on, Lala."

"I don't even know if there's something to move on to." Lafayette stated.

"Give it time." Jesús told him. "You two have a connection. You like him, he likes you, everything else isn't important."

"What about Jessica?" Lafayette asked. "She might be a little important."

"After the telling off you gave her, I think she'll come around." Jesús informed him before leaning in. "Besides, the way she and Jason were 'getting along' after you left tends to make one think she's already over it." He whispered conspiratorially. Lala just shook his head at the information.

"Jason Stackhouse." He said wistfully. "That boy be a fine piece of ass, but he also has a knack for gettin' himself into trouble he shouldn't. Just like his sister."

"Only time will tell." Jesús whispered before leaning in and stealing a kiss from Lafayette. The brujo pulled back before standing, placing a second kiss on Lafayette's forehead before moving round the table and down the stairs. He paused halfway down and turned back to look at the still living half of the pair. "And like I said, I'll always be here for you. We'll always look after you."

"We?" Lafayette couldn't stop the question from pouring out of his mouth. That's when he saw the shapes moving through the trees around his property. There was Great-great grandma Mae and her daughter Winnie, still wrapped in their shawls. Out in the driveway was Jesús's Great Aunt Cecilia, and there was Tio Luca sitting among the roots of that old cypress. Hell, he even saw Antonia and Marnie further back, the wispy old Wiccan looking nervous about being there (as she should be.) And lastly, closest to the house, was Eddie, smiling that soft smile of his. Lafayette turned to look back at Jesús.

"We'll _always_ be here for you."  Jesús told him. "Now you should get to bed." He smiled. "Knowing this town, you'll need to be rested up for whatever shit storm is coming next." Just then a small breeze blew through the trees, ruffling the leaves on the branches and blowing out the candles. When Lafayette looked back up, he was once again alone on his front porch. Stubbing out the rest of his blunt in the ash tray, Lala made his way back inside, took one look at the couch and decided "to hell with it" and made his way back to his bedroom.

And if James rolled over and snuggled into the human's warmth, well, that was between them.

**Author's Note:**

> Also, may I just point out, it was kind of hard to write in Lafayette's speech pattern.
> 
> Title was inspired by that quote Jesús says at the end of season four, telling Lafayette to "Just keep breathing. It's that easy."


End file.
